Governor Allows Parsons To Stay On School Board

Chiles' Lawyer: The Chairman Didn't Intend To Change His Legal Residency When He Built A Home Outside Orange County.

May 13, 1992|By Sandra Fish Of The Sentinel Staff

Orange County School Board Chairman Dee Parsons can stay in office although he lives part time in Lake County, a lawyer for Gov. Lawton Chiles said Tuesday.

Chiles ''has chosen not to declare a vacancy for that office,'' said Debby Kearney, the governor's deputy general counsel.

Kearney said her research showed Parsons didn't intend to change his legal residency from Orange County when he built a home in Lake.

Parsons declined to comment on the governor's decision after Tuesday's School Board meeting.

Last month, Parsons sold his Bay Hill home under a corporate relocation plan with his employer, Allstate Insurance. Parsons is a manager in Allstate's Tavares office.

Parsons said he planned to spend half of his time in Lake County and half at a Pine Hills home owned by his mother-in-law.

State law requires that school board members live in the county and district they serve.

Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar investigated whether Parsons was still eligible to serve on the board and seek re-election. That investigation found that Parsons received mail and a daily newspaper in Lake County, had his residential phone service transferred there and spent less than half his time last month in the Pine Hills home, where he also has a phone.

Pine Hills neighbors told investigators they didn't see Parsons in the area until after The Orlando Sentinel reported questions about his residency.

Lamar did not give an opinion on Parsons' residency but forwarded his report and transcripts of an interview with Parsons to the governor.

Parsons asked School Board Attorney Bill Rowland for legal advice on his residency before he moved to Lake County. And that indicated he intended to remain an Orange County resident, the governor's lawyer said.

''He just took so many steps - talking to his attorney first, having a phone transferred,'' Kearney said. ''It depends in large part on a person's intention.''

While people may have more than one home, only one is considered a legal residence, she said.

''We did quite extensive research,'' she said. ''We looked at residence in terms of legal residence or domicile. A person can have many residences, but only one legal residence.''

Kearney said it appeared that Parsons considered the Pine Hills home his legal residence.

Parsons told Lamar he considered the Lake County home a vacation residence where he will live after retiring.

Parsons told the prosecutor he had dropped his re-election campaign but said he would do whatever was necessary to finish his second term, which ends in November. ''I would have . . . never moved my residence in any way or moved any furniture to Lake County until November of this year if I had known that this was going to be an issue,'' he said.

Some southwest Orange County residents wrote Chiles and state elections officials, asking them to remove Parsons. Debbie Odom, one of the letter writers, called the governor's decision upsetting.

''I'm very disappointed,'' Odom said. ''Is anybody going to watch whether he stays in the Pine Hills home or not?''

In last month's interview with Lamar, Parsons criticized the Sentinel for sparking the inquiry into his residency, saying the newspaper has ''a political vendetta'' against him because he led efforts to name Don Shaw the district's new superintendent.